DOJ, Sandigan to meet on Napoles extradition

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Justice (DOJ) will confer with the Sandiganbayan in deciding on the extradition to the US of detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles to face a $20-million money laundering case related to the pork barrel scam.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra said he would consult with the anti-graft court once his office officially receives the request from the DOJ’s counterpart in the US as there are only two options available under the Philippines-US extradition treaty.

He explained that while the treaty allows for immediate extradition of Napoles and the suspension of plunder and other cases filed against her, his office would consider the stance of the Sandiganbayan in deciding on the matter.

Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang said Napoles could not be sent to the US right away because all her cases in the Philippines should be resolved first. Guevarra said this would be given weight in the action to be taken by the executive branch on the US extradition request.

“It is true that the Sandiganbayan has acquired exclusive jurisdiction over the person of Janet Napoles, and that is a factor that will be seriously considered in deciding on the matter,” Guevarra said.

While the Sandiganbayan, being under the judicial branch, has jurisdiction over Napoles, it is the DOJ as a member of the executive branch that will decide on which legal option under the extradition treaty would be taken.

Guevarra, not expecting any conflict between the positions of two co-equal branches, gave assurance that there would be no need to raise the matter for judicial resolution by the Supreme Court.

“I don’t think that this is a question that may find its way to the Supreme Court; it is not adversarial and both sides are cooperating with each other,” he stressed.

Earlier, he said Napoles could be extradited right away upon request of the US and her trial for cases in the Sandiganbayan could be suspended.

He told The STAR that the Philippine government “can surrender her (Napoles) temporarily to the US authorities so that her trial for money laundering could be completed in the US.”

“That is one of the two legal options under our extradition treaty if the US officially requests the extradition of Janet Napoles,” he explained.

The other option under the treaty, he said, is for the extradition proceedings to start only after the pending cases at the Sandiganbayan have been terminated or her sentence served. Under this scenario, Napoles’ extradition would have to wait for more years considering the many cases pending before the anti-graft court.

This was the option pushed by Tang, who said that Napoles could not be extradited while she is on trial in Philippine courts.

“The rule in our jurisdiction is that once a court acquires jurisdiction over a case, it continues to do so until the termination of the case. This includes jurisdiction over the person of the accused in a criminal case,” she told The STAR.

Guevarra already explained that the family members of Napoles, who were indicted with her in the US for money laundering and do not have any pending cases in the Philippines, could be extradited first.

Napoles and five family members—her children Jo Christine, James Christopher and Jeane Catherine; her brother Reynaldo and his wife Ana Marie—have been indicted by a federal grand jury for the crime of conspiracy to commit money laundering, domestic money laundering and international money laundering of $20 million in public funds allegedly obtained through the pork barrel fund scam.

The money was paid to dozens of non-government organizations that she controlled and diverted to kickbacks for legislators and other government officials, and for the personal use of her family.

In the charge sheet, the federal grand jury approximated that $20 million of those funds were diverted to money remitters in the Philippines and then wired to Southern California bank accounts where the money was used to purchase real estate, shares in two businesses, two Porsche Boxsters, and finance the living expenses of three family members residing in the US: Jeane Napoles and the Lim couple.

It was reported that the US Attorney’s Office has seized real estate properties in Southern California, valued approximately at $12.5 million, and subjected this to a civil forfeiture case pending before US District Judge James Selna. If the court orders its forfeiture, the US will work with Philippine officials in an attempt to return the stolen funds back to the Philippine government.

The money laundering case involved activities by the defendants from September 2012 to August 2014. In September 2012, an audit discovered the fraud and the US proceeds were exposed in July 2013.

Napoles was arrested in August 2013 and her bank accounts in the Philippines frozen.

Thereafter, Napoles and her family members attempted to quietly liquidate their assets in the US, secretly repatriate most of the resulting funds back to the Philippines and to other bank accounts in the US and the United Kingdom, and disburse some of the funds to Jeane Napoles, who used the money to finance her lifestyle and open a fashion business.